Easter Monday 10th April 2023, Kick-off 15.00
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 12,788 (222 away)
To round off my Easter weekend, it was back to The Valley today, for another unremarkable League One game with nothing really riding on the outcome, as this mostly painful season finally meanders mercifully towards its conclusion.
After Charlton’s truly astonishing performance and result against Shrewsbury in their last home game, it was a case of back to earth with a bump on Good Friday, as the Addicks put in a sadly much more familiar limp display at Bristol Rovers, losing 1-0. Fortunately, other results went Charlton’s way, and they stayed in twelfth place, followijg 13 wins and 13 draws from 40 league games, three points adrift of tenth placed Shrewsbury. Today’s visitors have had a decent second half of the season, and after being in a perilous position in the relegation spots at the turn of the year, they now look likely to survive, with a seven point cushion and a game in hand. They have won 12 and drawn nine of their 38 league games. And they were in decent form, winning two and drawing the other of their last three games.
Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
A match report can be viewed by clicking here, also copied and pasted below.
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 3-2 Burton Albion
Charlton welcomed Burton Albion to The Valley on Easter Monday – and what should have been a straightforward win became a nerve-jangling match, as KEVIN NOLAN reports.
The only drawback to an out-and-out winger like Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is that you never know what you’ll get from game to game. When he’s good, he’s very very good. When he’s less than good, you can forget he is on the pitch – not really bad but virtually invisible. You just have to love wingers – and take the rough with the smooth.
During the opening 20 minutes of this untidy victory over relegation-threatened Burton, the Crystal Palace loanee was very, very good. In fact, Burton’s bewildered defence found him impossible to handle. His two-goal salvo should have propelled the Addicks to a repetition of the humiliating rout inflicted on Shrewsbury Town at the start of the month. Instead, a goalkeeping error in first-half added time changed the narrative and the ensuing tension was all too familiar at The Valley.
But let’s deal with all that later. First we’ll concentrate on the mercurial Rak-Sakyi and the damage he wreaked on the visitors during those crucial opening stages. Charlton had already begun brightly and Tyreece Campbell, another fledgling wing wizard, forced a smart save from ex-Addick Craig McGillivray with a fierce, angled drive. Then Rak-Sakyi struck his first blow.
Just seven minutes had elapsed when a trademarked lateral run from right to left across the Brewers’ penalty area had Deji Oshilaja and his colleagues working diligently to deny the slimline speedster space to strike with his well-scouted left foot. They were flummoxed when Rak-Sakyi checked back on his weaker right foot and beat McGillivray with a perfectly judged shot. Their frustration was understandable after religiously following the book but still ending up outwitted.
Ten minutes later, their tormentor doubled their misery. On this occasion, a driving run through the middle by Scott Fraser scrambled Albion’s rearguard before the Scottish playmaker’s pass bounced fortuitously off a defender to Rak-Sakyi. In no mood to quibble about niceties such as luck or fate, the goalscoring wide man tucked away a close range finish – with his left foot.
Though he worked hard during an awkward second half, Charlton’s borrowed number 17 gradually faded, but not before his 12th and 13th goals of a fruitful season had left Burton critically wounded in their wake.
With the stuffing effectively knocked out of them, Dino Maamria’s battlers rallied and came close to reducing their arrears when Sam Hughes connected firmly with Conor Shaughnessy’s cross but headed straight at Ashley Maynard-Brewer.
By the time Joe Powell’s dangerous free kick was volleyed narrowly too high by Mark Helm, the visitors’ recovery was taking shape. And it was their turn for a lucky break shortly before the break through a rare error by Maynard-Brewer.
Leaving his line to deal with Jasper Moon’s optimistic up-and-under from the right touchline, the young Aussie muffed his catch while under no discernible pressure from a posse of hopeful Brewers. His fumble bounced loose for Hughes to hook into a gaping goal.
Shaken by the unexpected setback, Charlton’s anxiety was relieved by a vital third goal shortly after resumption. The hard work was provided by Campbell, whose determined run took him to the left byline and was capped by a cutback into a congested six-yard area. Though off balance, Macauley Bonne contrived to poke a typical poacher’s finish past McGillivray.
Bonne’s second goal in successive games might – but probably won’t – silence his suitably anonymous detractors. As things turned out, it became a matchwinner because the Brewers were not prepared to submit.
The Addicks’ critical two-goal lead survived precariously until Dean Holden deemed it necessary to replace George Dobson, Fraser and Mandela Egbo with over 20 minutes remaining. Dobson was running on empty and presumably needed protection from unnecessary cautions; having performed manfully, Egbo’s lack of game time dictated his removal.
The withdrawal of Fraser was rather more contentious because the tall Scot was Rak-Sakyi’s rival as best player on the pitch and his presence as Charlton’s midfield fulcrum was sorely missed. Whatever Holden’s reasons were, the effect was disastrous.
Sensing a chance of salvation, Albion redoubled their efforts and, with a quarter hour left, met with success. Powell’s inswinging corner was returned from the far post by Hughes and nodded past Maynard-Brewer by Josh Walker. A desperate defensive boot swiped Walker’s effort clear but not, according to referee Sunny Singh Gill, before it crossed the goalline.
Charlton’s comfortable walk in the park was by now a fading memory and the late dismissal of Jack Payne, one of Holden’s pivotal trio of substitutes in the 67th minute, hardly helped. Eager to do his bit as the pressure intensified, Payne’s rash foul on Oshilaja earned him an 88th-minute booking, which was quickly followed by a second booking for repeating the offence on Powell. All ten of the remaining Addicks, including no fewer than six academy graduates, dug in defiantly to secure a result they clearly coveted.
It was far from elegant but Charlton needed to bury the memory of their witless, spiritless outing in Bristol at the opening end of the Easter weekend. If nothing else, they owed as much to those pilgrims who, depending on your take on things, were unlucky – or alternatively lucky – not to make it. You might find yourself conflicted on that one!
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Egbo (Kane 67), Hector, Inniss, Thomas, Dobson (Payne 67), Morgan (Mitchell 89), Rak-Saki, Fraser (Henry 67), Campbell, Bonne (Kanu 89). Not used: Wollacott, Kilkenny. Booked: Payne (2) – sent off.
Burton: McGillivray, Brayford (Ashworth 84), Oshilaja, Hughes, Powell, Taylor, Walker (Carayol 77), Moon, Shaughnessy, Helm, Latty-Fairweather (Kamara 84). Not used: Amissah, McCann, Ahadme, Gilligan. Booked: Moon.
Referee: Sunny Singh Gill. Official attendance: 12,788 (222 visiting).
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